{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,24]],"date-time":"2026-02-24T10:02:15Z","timestamp":1771927335934,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":37,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,23]],"date-time":"2026-01-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1769126400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Med."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common degenerative joint disease resulting from the breakdown of multiple joint tissues, remains a leading cause of disability with limited therapeutic options. Synovitis is one of the reasons of OA progression, while communication between blood and synovium during disease process is still unclear.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>We used transcriptomic datasets from blood and synovium of healthy controls and OA patients to investigate potential molecular crosstalk between blood and synovium in OA pathogenesis through ligand-receptor pairs.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Ligand-receptor pair analysis revealed 129 ligands and 137 receptors differentially expressed in blood, and 108 ligands and 86 receptors in synovium. Gene ontology enrichment analysis of differentially expressed ligands indicated receptor ligand activity in both tissues, with blood enriched in leukocyte migration, cell chemotaxis, and leukocyte chemotaxis, and synovium in negative regulation of response to external stimulus, epithelial cell proliferation, and cell chemotaxis. Further protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis showed that blood ligands were mainly associated with inflammation and immunity (IL6, IL1B, IL23A, IFNA1, and TNF), while several synovium ligands were linked to angiogenesis (TGFB1, FGF7, and PDGFA). Based on ligand-receptor interactions and PPI network of differentially expressed ligands, we predicted and constructed molecular communication map between blood and synovium. Immunofluorescence staining of synovium showed more blood micro-vessels in OA patients and elevated IL6 and IL1B expression levels, suggesting that synovial inflammation might partly originate from pro-inflammatory cytokines in blood.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Discussion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>These findings offered new understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying blood and synovium communication in OA, and provided potential therapeutic drug targets for OA treatment to simultaneously modulate systemic inflammation and local angiogenesis.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fmed.2026.1719995","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,23]],"date-time":"2026-01-23T06:46:45Z","timestamp":1769150805000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Potential molecular communication of blood and synovium through ligand-receptor interactions in osteoarthritis"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Maochun","family":"Wang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Plastic Surgery, Affiliated Friendship Plastic Surgery Hospital of Nanjing Medical University","place":["Nanjing, Jiangsu, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Guihua","family":"Tan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Sports Medicine and Adult Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, School of Life Sciences, Nanjing University","place":["Nanjing, Jiangsu, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Shiqi","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Sports Medicine and Adult Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital Clinical College of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine","place":["Nanjing, Jiangsu, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Wenxue","family":"Lv","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Orthopedics, Affiliated Hospital of Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine","place":["Jinan, Shandong, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,23]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-031-40858-8_286-1","article-title":"Osteoarthritis: pathophysiology and classification of a common disabling condition","volume-title":"The Palgrave encyclopedia of disability","author":"O\u2019Sullivan","year":"2024"},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1038\/s41572-025-00594-6","article-title":"Osteoarthritis","volume":"11","author":"Tang","year":"2025","journal-title":"Nat Rev Dis 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